Streamers on the Rise: The “mindful chaos” of iGumdrop’s streams

Welcome to Streamers on the Rise, where we find streamers who are growing their channels, content, and audiences in extraordinary ways. Each week we’ll talk with a creator about what goes into livestreaming–both on and off camera.

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iGumdrop was three years into her computer science degree when a friend invited her to California.

She was “just so set” on graduating, she says, and spent most of her time studying. But when she wasn’t studying, she was streaming. She grew up a big fan of video games, and as she got into college, she realized she needed money for tuition. Streaming was, at first, a way for her to bring in funds. The more she did it, though, the more dedicated she became. By the time she was halfway through her degree, her streams were regularly bringing a couple hundred viewers.

Then the California invite. She needed something different from the intensity of school, so she booked a flight “with all the money I had,” she said. She was only supposed to stay for the duration of the school break, but while she was there, she kept streaming. Her views began to climb. She went from averaging around 150 viewers to over 400.

She didn’t want to stop. She also didn’t want to go back to school.

So, she didn’t.

That makes it sound easy. It wasn’t. She had to explain the whole thing to her parents, and promised herself that she would take one single semester to try streaming, and if it didn’t work out, she’d go back and get her compsci degree as planned.

Thankfully, things did work out. She’s now a full-time streamer whose audience tunes in for the “mindful chaos” of her variety of interests, from gaming to cooking to fashion.

Check out our chat with her below.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tubefilter: First, very important, I have to know your cat’s name.

iGumdrop: Her name is Ebi. It means shrimp in Japanese, because when she was a baby, she looked more like a shrimp. Now she’s a little more filled out.

Tubefilter: She’s very cute.

iGumdrop: Thank you.

Tubefilter: Okay, now that the most important member of the household has been addressed, tell me about you. Where did you grow up? Take me through your journey till you got on Twitch.

iGumdrop: I grew up in Queens, New York. I started streaming around college because I needed to make money for tuition. Just in general, I really enjoyed playing games at the time, but I grew up in a really low-income area. I went to a low-income elementary school and high school and all that, so I felt like I really wanted to experience I guess what was out there more. In order to do that, I felt like I had to take more risks. That led me to just streaming and playing games, and just trying to make content in general. That’s pretty much how I got started.

Tubefilter: What did you go to college for?

iGumdrop: Computer science, but I ended up dropping out my third year so I could pursue streaming.

Tubefilter: That must have been difficult. Intimidating.

iGumdrop: Yes. Actually, the story’s really funny. I finished my second year I believe with computer science, and I was about to start my next semester. I remember I was so set on just finishing my degree, and so I was studying really hard. Last minute, my friend, who was my streamer friend in California, she was like, “Would you come out to California during the school break?” I was like, “You know what? Yes, sure.” I booked a flight with all the money I had and then I was in California. I actually had saved a lot for tuition, but I ended up just– Streaming was going so well there that I ended up dropping out that same break and I’ve lived in California ever since. It just worked out.

Tubefilter: Wow. That is very risky.

iGumdrop: Yes. It was very risky, but my logic was, “I give myself a semester, and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll go back to school.” Thank God it worked out.

Tubefilter: What was the threshold for you? Was there an income threshold where you were like, “This is working. I’m going to stay full time”?

iGumdrop: I remember when I first started, I was averaging 150 viewers. Once I moved to California, the first few months, I was averaging around 400 viewers. Then at some point, down the six-month mark, I think I was averaging over a thousand. It didn’t feel right to end my momentum there. My parents were questioning everything because I went from computer science major to playing games online, but now they’re very supportive.

Tubefilter: It’s funny, also you’re the second person I’ve spoken to in two weeks who was like, “I was streaming and had X number of viewers and then I moved L.A. and my traffic shot up.” It’s so weird.

iGumdrop: Yes. It’s hard to say whether or not I would have grown if I didn’t move to L.A. I do think specifically for me, I was on Twitch during an era where collaboration was really vital. Now it actually is pretty vital too, but this was before collaboration was really a thing on Twitch, and it was just solo streaming. I think that definitely helped me out a lot. Now it’s a lot more saturated. I think if I were to move here now and pursue it the same exact way I did it, it would not have worked out as well.

@igumdrop and this is only a quarter of it 😭 retail therapy is best therapy #japanhaul #tokyoshopping

♬ Ditto – NewJeans

Tubefilter: Do you feel like discoverability is getting better on Twitch?

iGumdrop: I would say feature-wise, Twitch has put in the effort to make smaller creators have better discoverability. However, just because streaming is so much more saturated now, after the pandemic, it just reached mainstream audiences. It’s so much more significantly more saturated. I think that alone has made discoverability actually a bit more difficult in my personal perspective.

Tubefilter: I know you’re on other platforms. How has that played into growing your audience on Twitch?

iGumdrop: Actually, I found it very hard to– Usually cross-platforming, it’s hard to merge audiences. The reason why Twitch is so great is because anyone that finds you on other platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, they have a chance to really connect with you on Twitch, and I’ve found that, after streaming for a bit, I wanted to test out other platforms to see what was all about. Even though there’s so many great things about other platforms, on streaming specifically, it gives you such a good engagement with your community, and just a really good connection with your community. It’s just like FaceTiming your friends or something, or even this call right now. It’s much more intimate and it’s live, so I feel like that type of interaction and engagement is really difficult to find on any other platform.

Tubefilter: What do you think has been the biggest factor in growing your audience?

iGumdrop: My audience specifically, I feel like they’ve really gotten used to my, I guess, chaos. I’d like to call it a mindful, organized chaos, where it’s like I just have so many different interests, and so many different hobbies, and so many different things I want to do that it just vomits into my content. I feel like my audience has found comfort in that sort of chaos. For me, I feel like as long as I’m just authentically myself and doing things that I love, it really shows in my content is what I’ve noticed. I’ve tried to artificially change my content to maybe adapt to certain trends or things that might be better, but I’ve realized, as long as it’s true to me, then that’s usually portrayed into my content. That’s what helps me, I feel like, grow my audience.

Tubefilter: I do think there’s still a stigma about having to do gaming on Twitch, or having to stick to just one subject. Then you switch back and forth and still get your viewership. I was looking at your recent streams, and you have a cooking stream that got 22,000 views.

iGumdrop: Yes. I think it definitely took some time because I was originally a League of Legends streamer. Back then, you couldn’t even chat for more than 15 minutes. Before, it wasn’t allowed on Twitch, so it was primarily gaming. Making that switch, that transition, I’d say every creator gets to that point where you have to make a change. We evolve as people, and so it’s just necessary. It’s scary, but it’s definitely worth it.

Tubefilter: How did you make that transition from gaming to just chatting? Was it difficult?

iGumdrop: Actually, I don’t think it was too difficult, because when I did just chatting, it was such a new thing. It was such a fun concept. It made it so that it was a lot more intimate with the audience because you guys were just talking about stuff, like late-night talks and stuff like that, activities. It was a lot more easier than I thought it would be, for sure.

Tubefilter: What’s your current schedule look like?

iGumdrop: Right now, I actually have been focused on a lot of other platforms, so a lot of Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, and TikTok, because I really enjoy making short-form content right now, so YouTube. I also have my own clothing brand, so my whole schedule is pretty much like, two days a week, I work on my clothing brand, and then once a week, I’ll stream, and then two days a week, I’ll film and edit. How many days is that? Five. I’ll take one day off and then one day to socialize. That’s pretty much my schedule.

Tubefilter: Do you have a team that you’re working with? Do you have editors? Or is it all you?

iGumdrop: Yes. I’ve been editing everything on my own this whole entire time. I finally got an editor. Fingers crossed that it works out, but up until now, I’ve pretty much edited everything on my own. I do have a team with my clothing brand, so that helps a lot. When it comes to my content, it’s mainly just me, and I also have a graphic artist that helps me with assets, so it’s great.

Tubefilter: Got it. Very cool. Are you working on any upcoming projects?

iGumdrop: I am. It’s a little secret right now, but it has to do with my clothing brand.

Tubefilter: What is it like to run that side of things for you, from design to finishing?

iGumdrop: When I first started it, I did not think it was going to be as hard as it was. It was really difficult, but I learned so much from the design process to creating the actual product to marketing, and branding, and the logistical side of things. When you start a brand, there’s so much legalities to it, logistics to it. As a streamer, I was not prepared for that. I was very used to just improvising things on stream and my content.

Actually, I really enjoyed the experience because I felt like because I started streaming so early in my career. I started around 19, 20, I never really got to experience the behind-the-scenes of things. I’ve only really worked part-time jobs at that point, but I’ve never experienced the background logistics of things, so it gave me a lot of perspective. I feel like now I’m in a spot where I just have so much content creator perspective, but I also have a big behind-the-scenes business logistical perspective. Even though it took me a lot of difficulty to get here, being able to see the two and combine them is really empowering for me.

Tubefilter: What has been your favorite part of streaming specifically?

iGumdrop: Streaming. I think how genuine it feels. I think because you’re live for hours, you get to show parts of yourself that you wouldn’t usually be able to show if you were curating your content. That could be good or bad, but mostly I’ve found it to be the reason why connecting with the audience is so much easier. There’s so much good content potential in the unknown, which I feel like streaming really taps into because whether it’s the game you’re playing or the activity you’re doing, or the type of audience you’re talking to, it could really lead to just really funny moments and highlights that I feel like are very hard to replicate on other platforms.

Tubefilter: Yes. I think that’s absolutely true. Even with TikTok, I remember when it first started, everybody was like, “It’s so real and unedited and lo-fi.” Even those platforms eventually migrate into this thing that’s very curated and slick. That can be good, but also you feel like there’s this element of just having a window into somebody’s life.

iGumdrop: Yes, I agree.

Tubefilter: I think you’re the first person I’ve spoken to who regularly does cooking streams. I’m curious, when you’re managing that–or any kind of stream where you’re doing things that take a lot of concentration–how have you developed the skills to balance engaging with chat and then also doing the thing, and making sure chat feels like they’re involved?

iGumdrop: Oh my gosh. I don’t know if I’m still good at it. Usually, I’ll have to sacrifice something. It’s either audience engagement, what I’m cooking, or cleanliness. I usually sacrifice cleanliness. Oftentimes, when you watch my stream, I’ll be very engaging with my chat, and I’ll be cooking well, but there’s just a mess around me. Usually, it’s two or three of those that I could really focus on, but like I said, Twitch is great. Streaming is great because people find a lot of joy and humor in the unknown and the funny moments. I feel like they almost like that type of improvising chaos where something random could happen, where– I feel like things that wouldn’t happen if I’m not streaming, what happens on stream, that it’s just a funny moment to share with my audience, so it ends up working out for sure.

@igumdrop easy egg fried rice recipe 🤤 #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #cooking #recipe #asian ♬ original sound – jaime

Tubefilter: Perfect. Okay, last question: What would be your number one piece of advice for a new streamer?

iGumdrop: A new streamer…I feel like the typical advice you would hear is to be consistent and keep at it. I think with how competitive it is right now, you really need to have something that makes you different, something that makes you stand out. I would highly suggest, I think this is something that’s served me long-term, just being a genuine person to the community and to anybody you meet. I think that really goes a long way.

I feel like streaming on Twitch is so reliant on a community that how you treat people and all your little tiny interactions that you feel might not matter do matter. Not in a way where you should suck up to everyone, but in a way where you should genuinely just try to be authentic and true to yourself. I feel like people are really intuitive when it comes to those things. I feel like a lot of people I know who have taken that route in the community have ended up in a place where they feel very true to themselves on the platform.